Quest for Mud (Special Edition)

[F4?]

I bet Clink was conceived at the Pinnacles.

[clink]

Nope, Anchorage, AK.
Earthquakes, my dad was spending a lot of time with bush pilots, mom was a nurse, small apartment.

[mynameismud]

Nope, Anchorage, AK.
Earthquakes, my dad was spending a lot of time with bush pilots, mom was a nurse, small apartment.

The part about you Dad does not come across quite right.

[clink]

I know, but there are pics and super8 movies, so validated.
My folks are flying in to San Jose Saturday afternoon. I'll have to ask for Alaska stories.
 My dad was there for the big quake in 64. They were married in Ohio in July 64 and drove a VW beetle to Anchorage. A couple years ago they did a 100 plus day roadtrip. They have always had a sense of adventure.

[F4?]

Most Alaska folks are not quite right, but that what makes the state entertaining.

Anchorage is kinda like Alaska, just not a cold as Fairbanks.

[clink]

There you go again, russian to conclusions.

[JC w KC redux]

Went out with Kat, Craig and Deb today. We stopped by The Flatiron first and I led Mungy Bulgy while Deb led the 5.0 Apron Route to practice placing some gear.

We went to climb the route I rebolted on Tuesday at The Fingers next.

Condor 0 landed and stayed for a while on one of the boulders across from the base of The Fingers.
Kat said she counted 11 while we were at the Flatiron.

The wind was blowing pretty good today (periodically) and the overcast was keeping things pretty chilly again.
I was noticing how low some of the clouds were while I was belaying everybody up the route.
Next thing I knew - thick fog rolled in but only lasted about an hour. It stayed just long enough to chill us down and boy oh boy was that wind cold. We all rapped off and packed up. By the time we were near Voyeur Wall - it was clear. We saw strange little pockets of knee-high fog in the fields on the way home. Weird day.

Supposed to be super nice the next few days and then temps will dip again. What a tease   

[JC w KC redux]

Here's a couple pics of North Finger-East Edge 5.7R (courtesy of Deb Collins)

Stretching it out on lead with extreme care (in the runout between bolt 2 and the midway anchor).





Kat follows (her head is about 6 feet below the midway anchor). I decided to lead the route in one pitch, once I reached the mid anchor.
Pitch 2 does a hand traverse along the crack protected by gear. Very committing from the anchor.
Linking the pitches is about 100 feet. Gear to 3 inches.





Kat raps down through the cloud_fog

[mynameismud]

Good pic of Kat

[mungeclimber]

yeah, said it on bookfart too, but like that pic of the blue on gray of kat.

[F4?]

It’s a good shot.

That’s why we used to wear bright colors.

[Tuff Chik]

Good pic of Kat

Thanks guys!  I was having a really fun day on the rocks and the picture shows it.

[JC w KC redux]

I had the pleasure of leading two of the finest climbs I have ever done at Pinns on Saturday with Gavin.
No pictures but lots of good memories and climbs that I will go back to repeat.
They are both super fun and completely different from each other.

We warmed up on Ham Sandwich 9* - fun but not on the same level as the other two we did. It's a nice chimney (not squeezy) to face route with a sub crux after you transition onto the lower face (felt 5.8 to me) and a second bouldery 5.9 crux up high.
 
Swine Flue 10a** is three stars in my book. It starts by climbing Pockety Peccary 5.7* (two stars imo) up a fairly friendly squeeze chimney - with a plethora of amazing pockets in great rock - to a wild and well protected stemming section that allows you to commit over to the final steep section. I did a full body stem after getting the bolt on the back wall clipped - to rearrange my feet and reset - for the committing move over. If you stem up high enough and have the reach - there is a big lodestone with a hidden incut that makes the move across really fun - followed by some steep and sustained stemming up and over a lip.

I can't say enough about Dances With Warthogs 10a***
It is full on face climbing with a pumpy start on amazingly hard, featured rock. There is a good rest past the initial pumpy section (1st 3 bolts), where you can rest and regroup before casting off on the long, steep face that just keeps on giving.
This is one climb that has to be experienced to be believed. 
I put a #1 and #2 camalot side by side in the upper pocket (there are 2 obvious pockets) to protect the moves to the first bolt.   
I was super intimidated by the start but it is so good when you get up there...
The consistent quality of the rock and the variety of the holds throughout the whole climb are just so good - it seems like a dream. 

I've said it before but I'll say it again - thanks! - and hats off to you Gavin (and briham) - incredible work guys.

[Gavin]

Thanks for the praise, John - I agree that they are very good routes indeed. As mentioned when we were chatting / climbing on Saturday, I drilled / bolted Swine Flue on solo lead - maintaining those wild stems while drilling the two protection bolts on the crossover from one wall to the other was crazy, especially since I was cranking through that route in July and August!

For those that are interested, here are a couple photos (courtesy of Alacia) of me leading through the wild stemming crux on Swine Flue, a couple years ago:

[briham89]

Nice job on the climbs John!

Gavin was the mastermind of this area (and did quite a few routes solo, once it got hot and my focus shifted to the Sierra ). The whole time we were establishing routes I kept thinking, HOW HAVE THESE NOT BEEN CLIMBED YET?!

Funny note about Dances With Warthogs...I was on lead bolting a new climb around the corner (Razorback 5.11a ***), and Gavin had tied me off to a tree while bolting so he didn't have to just sit there and wait. In between hammering away I heard Gavin around the corner yell...."OH MY GOD!!!" I yelled out to Gavin to see what was going on. He said something along the lines of, "stop everything!!! We are doing this first!!!" That was after he felt some of the rock and saw the line for Dances. I came down saw the line and said yep!

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's easily (IMO) the best FA I've been a part of at Pinnacles.

[JC w KC redux]

Nice job on the climbs John!
I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's easily (IMO) the best FA I've been apart of at Pinnacles.

Thanks dude.
I didn't just enjoy them - I savored them! Kind of like some crispy, tasty bacon after a long hiatus  
Gavin told me that story.
I would bet that Dances is quite possibly one of the best routes at Pinnacles - period.

Thanks for the praise, John - I agree that they are very good routes indeed.
maintaining those wild stems while drilling the two protection bolts on the crossover from one wall to the other was crazy
For those that are interested, here are a couple photos

You both deserve the praise.
It is interesting to take another look at the photos - since I just wrote about it in my climbing log.
I was in the same position until I did the full body stem to switch feet and kept bumping up even higher before latching on to that big lodestone with my left hand to commit over (you can see it in both pictures - it's straight left of your left hand in the 2nd photo). The protection isn't just superb...it's exquisite  

[BAP]

I can't say enough about Dances With Warthogs 10a***

Me too.  I love that route!  Thank you Gavin and Brian!

Swine Flu looks fabulous but I don't think my legs are long enough to make that "step over" or "stem" move. 

[JC w KC redux]

Me too.  I love that route!  Thank you Gavin and Brian!

Swine Flu looks fabulous but I don't think my legs are long enough to make that "step over" or "stem" move. 

Gavin said the shortest person to follow it was 5 foot 4. She is long-legged (I know her) with evidently limber legs.

I felt at the limit of my stemming ability. I've gotten a bit more limber from doing yoga 

[BAP]

I will bring a 2x4 when I go there, I will pretend the name of the climb is "Walking the Plank" 

[BAP]

"Walking the Plank variation"